HR and Employee Screening Issues Affecting your Business

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Month: November 2013

The State of Texas recently filed a lawsuit against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) seeking relief from the Commission’s April 25th, 2012 Enforcement Guidance which limits employers from blanket exclusion of convicted felons from employment.

In the court filing by Attorney General of Texas Greg Abbot, the state seeks:

1. A declaratory judgment that the State of Texas and its constituent agencies and its officials are entitled to maintain and enforce laws and policies that absolutely bar convicted felons, or a certain category of convicted felons, from government employment, and that the State need not conduct the “individualized assessments” that EEOC purports to require.

3. A declaration and injunction that EEOC may not issue right-to-sue letters to persons seeking to sue the State of Texas or any of its constituent agencies or state officials based on the interpretation of Title VII that appears in the Enforcement Guidance.

The National Association of Professional Background Screeners, of which A-Check is an original Founding Member, offers employers some common-sense Do’s and Don’ts for conducting effective background checks during the heavy holiday hiring period:

1. Don’t try the do-it-yourself approach to background screening – Conducting a Google search or quickly checking social media is not adequate or appropriate for vetting potential employees and could leave you open to legal issues.

2. Do hire a professional background screener – Partnering with a professional will ensure you obtain the most comprehensive and accurate data to help make informed hiring decisions.

3. Do treat all employees the same during the background screening process. Whether full-time, part-time or seasonal, they are still your employees and will most likely be interacting with your customers every day. The classification of their employment should not change the need for conducting a background screen.

4. Do make sure you’re aware of your responsibilities as an employer under the law – Background checks are subject to state and federal laws intended to protect those being screened. Understand what you are required to do by law to avoid penalties.

European privacy regulators alarmed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations of massive U.S. spying not just on terrorism suspects but also high profile EU politicians and businesses are threatening to scrap the thirteen year old transatlantic data-sharing mechanism used by more than 3,000 US companies to process EU citizen’s data in compliance with EU Privacy laws.

“A-Check complies with all data privacy requirements for transatlantic transmission, storage and disposal of EU citizens’ personal data,” said Carlos Lacambra, A-Check’s President. “A-Check’s privacy practices embraced the concepts outlined in the Safe Harbor framework long before our company officially certified compliance through the US Department of Commerce.”

Whether Safe Harbor ultimately remains or is replaced by another framework as a result of EU action remains to be seen, but it is clear influential forces within the European Parliament are not satisfied with the status quo.

“Should the current US-EU Safe Harbor Mechanism be abandoned and replaced, A-Check will continue to comply with EU data privacy requirements,” Lacambra said. “At this point,A-Check’s dedicated Compliance Department is monitoring developments in the European Parliament to ensure that A-Check makes any and all adjustments necessary to keep both our clients and A-Check compliant with International Data Security Legislation now and moving forward.”

Thank you to all who participated in A-Check’s Lee Denim Day breast cancer awareness and research fundraising campaign! We are pleased to share with you that we set a goal of $1,500 for this year’s employee-sponsored campaign and we exceed our expectations, raising a total of $1,550! This has certainly been a team effort and we would like to thank everyone who participated….Your $5 donations made a difference!